Mujtaba Hussain, the noted Urdu Humourist, passed away on May 27, 2020. A towering figure of Urdu Humour, he wrote scathingly on Indian politics and society. In this online eulogy to him, his friends, colleagues, writers, will gather to talk and celebrate his work.

Organizer
Lamakaan
Lamakaan, An Open Cultural & inclusive Space in Hyderabad that promotes and presents the best of arts, literature, theatre, debates, discussions, and dialogue with a commitment to being open and accessible.

In early March, the world looked towards India with obvious panic. What would a country of 1.3 billion with a weak health infrastructure do as the pandemic spreads? The New Yorker anticipated that covid19 would “rip through” the country while others predicted devastation. One epidemiologist went as far as to warm of 200 million or more people being infected. But after 5 weeks of the lockdown, none of this has come to pass. This has resulted in some commentators declaring that the lockdown has been successful. Has it? Because even as the PM announced an eased lockdown the first 4 days of May have seen a steady increase in new cases and COVID related deaths. Then there has been the testing mantra – that the numbers are vastly under-reported because testing rates are abysmally low. But others challenge this outlook by pointing to the fact that neither have hospitals been overwhelmed nor is there an inexplicable spike in the death rate. How then does one explain the low numbers and what is being reported from hospitals? And what does the future hold? How complicated will the story of testing and vaccines be as we move forward? What has happened in India over the last 6 weeks Has produced answers for very few questions and opened up several new ones. These will be the subject of the Lamakaan / ICWI panel discussion where three of the most distinguished experts come together to help us think this through.

Dr. Prabir Chatterjee – Director of State Health System Resource Centre of Chhattisgarh govt in Raipur.

Dr. Radha Rangarajan, Chief Scientific Officer, HealthCubed

Dr.Saleema Razvi (Moderator), Researcher Economist

Organizer

Lamakaan

Lamakaan, An Open Cultural & inclusive Space in Hyderabad that promotes and presents the best of arts, literature, theatre, debates, discussions, and dialogue with a commitment to being open and accessible.

Lamakaan-an open cultural space has been organising variety of events for its audiences. Post lockdown, Lamakaan has decided to do some online events as well.

In coming days, we have planned a series of panel discussions pertaining to the Covid19 pandemic. The first of the series of panel discussion that we are planning to organise online will be held on 2nd of May at 8:30 PM. The topic of this panel discussion will be ” Kerala : Fight with Corona pandemic ”

Kerala was one of the early hubs of India’s Covid19 crisis. As far back in Feb, Kerala Minister for Health ordered screening at all four of the States airports and a few days later the Chief Minister announced a lockdown — one that was seemingly more effective than the national lockdown – in some part because it was more humane. How did Kerala fund the capacity to respond to an emergent pandemic even before the WHO had declared it as one. What marks the states health infrastructure that allowed for such agility? What about the interface between government, medical teams and citizens which allowed for such a response.

These and other important questions will be taken up by three doctors / scientists speaking in this panel. This online panel discussion will be co hosted by Lamakaan, Hyderabad and ICW, USA.

This panel discussion will be relayed through Google conference link. This event is for Hyderabad, National and International audience.

I would request you to join us on this panel discussion. After the discussion, speakers will take a few questions as well.

The four esteemed speakers for this event on 2nd May 2020 at 8:30PM are as follows :

Ekbal B, He chairs the epidemic response committee, and past president of the KSSP

A workshop on how to deal with your kids patiently and not yell on them. Shanti Swaroop will share parenting tools for mothers on how to manage children without yelling, blaming and shouting. Join the Zoom session on April 22, 2020 at 05:30 PM

Are you going crazy managing your kids during this lockdown? Sammy Sahni, founder, Social Dragonfly and Womenfolk of Hyderabad gives expert advice on how to constructively engage your kids during these tough times.

Remembering Ambedkar: It has been sixty four years since Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar’s demise. Considering our current socio-political society, where discrimination against marginalized groups is rampant, it becomes even more important to understand and grasp Ambedkar’s ideas of equality and justice: the two values through which Ambedkar viewed democracy. Taking that into consideration, Lamakaan invites everybody to a zoom conversation with three experts who will deliver their respective discourses on Ambedkar and the current climate in the country. The speakers are as follows: 1. Aishwary Kumar: Dr. Aishwary Kumar is a professor at University of California and an intellectual historian of the Global South. His work engages a wide spectrum of issues in moral and political philosophy, history of political thought and inequality, political freedom and justice, and global lineages of self-determination, citizenship, and rights.

Professor Kumar will be speaking on the notion of segregation/quarantine and how Ambedkar employs them in his arguments on democratic crises.

Leonard Dickens: Dr. Leonard Dickens is a professor at the Center for Comparative Literature at the University of Hyderabad. His research has focused heavily on Anti Caste thought and debate. He has published on anti-caste intellectual thought, print culture, and also on contemporary Tamil films in internationally renowned journals. Professor Dickens will be discussing three critical moments in Ambedkar’s journey.

Jyothsna Siddharth: Jyotsna Siddharth is an actor, anti-caste activist and writer based in Delhi. She is a founder of Project Anti-Caste, Love and Co-founder of Sive. She has conducted workshops with colleges in Delhi University on Questions of Social Identities in Romantic Relationships. She has a Masters in Development and Social Anthropology and a recipient of Chevening Scholarship (2014).

Ms. Siddharth will be speaking on Ambedkar’s views on inter-caste marriages.

The zoom conversation will take place on the 14th of April from 5 pm to 7:30 pm.

Bazm e Sukhan is a weekly gathering of those interested in Urdu literature. A bunch of 20 odd people meet every Wednesday at 5 pm at Lamakaan and discuss Urdu poetry and prose. Each session usually focuses on one poet, or writer or a particular aspect of the form, structure or grammar of Urdu writing

Organizer

Lamakaan An Open Cultural Space

Lamakaan is an open cultural space of Hyderabad that organizes events on various political, social, economic, and cultural issues. For more info about lamakaan and its events, visit us at www.lamakaan.com